The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Verbena plant, botanically known as Verbena hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘AKIV344-01’.
The new Verbena plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Shiga, Japan and Bonsall, Calif. The objective of the breeding program is to create new freely flowering Verbena cultivars with large flowers and resistance to Powdery Mildew.
The new Verbena plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor on Jul. 14, 2006 in Shiga, Japan of a proprietary selection of Verbena hybrida identified as code number VJ05-16-01, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Verbena hybrida identified as code number 06V53-02, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Verbena plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Bonsall, Calif. on Jun. 14, 2007.
Asexual reproduction of the new Verbena plant by terminal cuttings in a controlled environment in Bonsall, Calif. since Jun. 18, 2007 has shown that the unique features of this new Verbena plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.